Mass Effect: Dark Shadows
by RedHawk09
Summary: After surviving the Omega 4 relay, Shepard and the crew dock at Omega to get repaired. They sadly say goodbye to some friends, but they receive a someone else. A mercenary named Derrick Davids, who seems to have a strange past with some of the crew. (Sorry not a great description, but I'll let my story do the talking for me. MShepxLiara, OCx who ever you choose.)


Chapter 1: In The Footsteps of Legends

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**Hello Mass Effect fans, I'm back. Sorry for not updating Deception but I've been swamp with work, and this idea just popped in my head one day I couldn't let it go to waste. This story will take place in a different "universe" than my story Mass Effect 3: Deception. It's starts towards the end of ME2, after destroying the Collector base, Shepard will be a Paragon he'll be romanced with Liara. While Derrick is just...well Derrick. He's about twenty eight, former Alliance Infiltrator, some engineer training, and currently a merc for hire. Now I want there be romance between Derrick and someone on the Normandy crew, so I'd like opinions on that please! Also please keep in mind that any character's that you have never heard of are completely made up.**

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**Omega, somewhere near Afterlife.**

_"Come join the Blue Suns. If you can use a rifle, we can give you purpose!"_

Purpose. Now that was something Derrick Davids was starting to lack. He spent a good eight years of his life in the Alliance, had become one of their top infiltration agents, and now look at him. Living on Omega, working as freelancing merc and security consultant. Sometimes he wondered how he had royally screwed up his life, but then remembered why. He remember the fist fight he got in with his CO after Commander Shepard's death. His CO label Shepard as an insane nut job, "who betray humanity just to save a bunch of worthless aliens." his CO's words not his. Although Derrick had never met Shepard he knew enough to respect the man. But he did not regret leaving the Alliance, well getting kicked out, because he couldn't believe how easily the Alliance turned their backs on Shepard. Hell from what he read, Shepard had done everything, right down to saving the Council, he had done the right thing.

Derrick shook his head as he got ready for work, he didn't have the luxury of sleeping in everyday like some people. He need to eat, which required money, he also needed mods for his sniper, pistol, and his omni-tool all of which required money that he need right away. Luckily for him he had just been hired by Omega's Queen herself. "Well at least this way I can purchase what I need," he bitterly thought to himself. He took a quick shower, and took two minutes to dry off the long half of his dark red hair. He liked his "weird" hair cut, half of his hair was long enough to touch his cheek, while the other was shaved nearly down to his skin. He had gotten the cut about a year ago, so he could blend in on Omega, and had decided to keep the look.

He put on his custom lightweight merc armor, were he anywhere else, Derrick would admit he was being paranoid, but this was OMEGA! He'd rather wear his black and blue armor than face some drunk asshole with a gun...again. He had learned the hard way that this place was filled with drunk idiotic criminals, sure he ran into some decent people here and there, but it was mostly just criminals. He also grab his pistol, and a small metal box, and placed it on his chest plate. And went off to Afterlife.

When he got to Afterlife, it had barely opened, but he was let in by the bouncers, he remembered when he had seen some idiot human tried to talk his way past the elcor, and laughed at the memory. He made his way inside, but something felt off to him. He shrugged it off, and got his omni-tool ready. As he entered the "main hub" of Afterlife, he was greater by Aria, she told him what kind of new security she wanted setup and where. After she was finished, he got to work.

* * *

**NORMANDY**

Tali had just finish helping repair the cargo bay, well as best as she and some of the crew could. They just used mass effect barriers to patch the hull up. Shepard had decided that they would stop at Omega and get the ship fully repaired. She was looking forward to searching through the part shops on Omega, she had a few idea how to help boost the Normandy's Drive Core. Which she wanted to keep it a secret from the rest of the crew, she wanted to leave Shepard with a little goodbye present before she left. By the time she was done, the Normandy would be flying faster than ever. Or at least that what she was hoping for. She'd fine out in about a day or two, they where about three hours or so from Omega. She could not wait, so she decided to check on the drive core one more time.

* * *

**OMEGA, AFTERLIFE.**

Derricks finished up installing Aria's new systems, cameras, facial rec, and discreet weapon scanners. He knew that Aria was paranoid, but she seemed even more so than usual. "Why do I even care?" he asked himself, "I'm here for credits and credits alone." He walked back over to Aria's "throne."  
When he arrived, she was on a data-pad giving orders into her comm, and the look on her face. It reminded Derricks of the look one of his old CO's had back when they were prepping for an assault against some Batarian slavers. He cleared his throat, getting her attention, she didn't look to happy that he had interrupted her call.  
"Keep me posted," she ordered before shutting down her comm, "Yes, Derricks?!" She sounded annoyed, which Derrick could care less about.  
"I just finished installing your new systems," he replied, "But in order for them all to be synced, I have to reset the systems you already have." He half expected her to kick him out, or throw him out, because he knew that Aria doesn't like taking orders from anyone. He waited for her to explode, but she just stood there, arms crossed, with her usual expression on her face.

"Fine," she said, "Make it quick I can't affords to have my systems off for too long." Derricks was shocked, though his face didn't show it. Whatever had Aria worked up must be serious. Despite his want for answers, he chose against it, and activated his omni-tool and started the reboot process. Afterlife's lights dimmed a bit, causing Aria to give Derricks a angry glare.

"Relax," he told her, "This is a normal part of the reboot. They should be back on in a minute." He told her, and sure enough a minute later the lights were back on. He was about to say something when out of nowhere the club violently shook. Aria fell to the floor, while Derricks ended up at the railing that overlooked Afterlife. That's when he caught a glimpse of blue and white heavy armor. Derricks automatically knew that these were Blue Suns mercs. It didn't take long, for him to figure out what was going on, the Suns were here to kill Aria. They somehow knew that Aria was setting up a new security system, and when, because Aria had refused to do the installment during club hours, and before opening time, Afterlife's security was basically at zero strength. Derricks had to give to the Blue Suns credit, they knew how plan an attack. He saw Aria try to get up, normally he would have just left, but he hadn't gotten paid yet, and he'd rather have her in charge of Omega than some merc gang.

He put a hand on her shoulder, and whispered, "Stay here if you want to live and keep your club clean."  
If she wanted to argue, she didn't get a chance, Derricks open his metal box and pulled out two proximity mines, and place one at both entrances to her throne. He then cloaked himself and headed towards the clubs floor, sneaking past a few of the Blue Suns troops.

There were only five of them, two were headings towards Aria, the rest hanged back keeping an eye on things. He saw that one was at the bar, and had his back to the exit. Thats were Derricks saw his perfect striking point. Quickly but silently, like he had been trained to, he ducked behind the side of the bar the merc had it's back to. And he waited.

The two Suns heading for Aria, each took one of the stairs, neither noticing the mines that where waiting for them. Once they spotted Aria they shouted, "We got her!" But they both stepped on the mines, and disappeared into burning explosions, leaving their remains to resemble flaming meat. Derricks then went to work. He de-cloaked and snapped the Blue Sun's neck, grabbed his pistol, before his body fell, and pulled out his own. By this time the remaining two Suns had noticed him, but they were to late. Using both pistols, Derricks put them both down, leaving oozing bloody holes in their heads.

Aria had seen the whole thing, and was rather impressed, but refused to let her face show it. Truth be told she had never seen anyone do something like that, well except for a Krogan, but she had never seen it done with such precise timing. She didn't know much about Derricks and that's what bugged her, she knew that he was former-Alliance, but beyond that nothing. His records were well classified and none of her people could hack their way through the firewalls in his file. The only thing she really knew was that he was a genius with systems, which is why she went to him for help. She had known about this plotted take over, thanks to Shepard bringing her intel about the Blood Pack, Eclipse, and Blue Suns. But she knew the Blue Suns would still try something, so she wanted the best security.  
Aria gave Derricks a small smile, and motioned for him to follow her, which he did, after putting his pistols on his harness.

"Well, that was something," she said monotony, "But I've seen better. And I don't like being told what to do!" She shot him a death look, hoping it would make him squirm a bit, but to her disappointment, he was unfazed.

"Regardless," she added, "I do owe you for saving me, and installing my security. So I'll double your pay, and from now you can drink here for free. And I'll have one of my men deliver something that we took from a Cerberus facility." She then typed at Omni-tool, with her usual expression. Derrick's omni-tool then lit up, letting him know of an update in his bank account. Aria then extended her hand towards him, he grinned and shook her hand.

"Thank you," he finally said, "Now if you'll excuse me, there is somewhere I have to be." He walked towards the exit, before leaving he turn his head and called out to Aria.  
"Hey sorry bout the mess." Aria laughed and waved the apology off, knowing that he was probably being sarcastic.

As Derricks made his way home he noticed that one of Aria's Batarians was walking away from the direction that he lived. He was wondering what was going on, until he saw what was waiting outside his home. It was a tall silver crate, with a Cerberus symbol on it. He knew that it was the other gift Aria had mentioned, but he hated Cerberus. He had a few unwanted run ins with them. He had been offered a job by them a few years back, but he refused. To him, Cerberus was just as bad as the Terra Firma Foundation, except TFF doesn't do anything but protest, where as Cerberus followed up on it's claims. Plus the fact they had sent a hit-squad after him, didn't help them, either. But he would give Cerberus this, they know how to create top of the line gear. He dragged the crate inside, and opened it. He was left speechless, inside the crate was a new infiltration armor set, everything about it screamed stealth. (It's Cerberus male Phantom armor, this was one of my favorite add-ons from ME3, so I just couldn't resist.) Although he was going to have to do something about the color scheme. Aria must have stolen the armor right when they finished putting it together, because it was still untouched by paint, not even the Cerberus logo was on this beautiful suit.

Normally to get your armor's color changed, you'd have to go to a custom armor shop, where they had a chamber that would burn the color into the armor. Luckily, Derricks had a homemade chamber, he wasn't to fond of the idea of a stranger handling his armor, so he had made his own. He place his new armor in the chamber, with an ear to ear smile. "This is gonna be fun," he chuckled softly.

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**NORMANDY**

They finally arrived at Omega, which meant that some of the crew would go there separate ways. Shepard was sitting down in his cabin. Shepard wasn't looking forward to saying goodbye to them, he knew that Samara would be leaving once they docked, he had no idea who else would be leaving. Yet he was also relieved. Why? Because he had done the impossible, he had led a squad through the Omega 4 relay, survived without a single casualty, and on top of that they had destroyed the Collectors! But the most important thing of all was that thy had proved to the Reapers, that the species of this galaxy were capable of fight back.

Even though he treasure that with pride, he knew that it wouldn't be enough to stop them. They would need more allies and resources, and for some reason he felt that he'd have to be the one in charge of that. And he hated that thought, it drove him mad. Why was it always him?! Why were people always looking to him for guidance? Because he survived Akuzu? Because he was the first human Spectar? Did people think that he had pulled that off because he had a plan for everything, that he survived because he was strong?! Well if people thought that they would be sadly mistaken. To him he only pulled it all of because of pure dumb luck! Hell he was just glad he had managed to keep his sanity, especially after Akuzu. He had almost lost it back when he was chasing Saren, and he would have had it not been for a certain Prothian expert.

He smiled as he thought of Liara, and the time they spent on the Normandy. He would never forget them, he couldn't forget the best moments of his life. When he first died, his life flashed before his eyes, and mostly what he saw was Liara. So when he first awoke from his resurrection, his first concern was finding out if she had survived. Knowing she was alive gave him the strength to keep going on. Despite the many warnings, Shepard tried to send a message to her, but whenever he tried the ship would "mysteriously" be out of range of a comm relay. Which angered him none the less. But when he found her on Nos Astra, he had hoped that she still loved him, but what he got just left him stumped. She had changed, she had became a whole different person. She was cold, calculated, and almost ruthless. Had it been anyone else John would have just given up, but he knew that somewhere, deep down, wether she realized it or not, that the Liara he knew was still there. The kiss she gave him had proved that to him. He had to find a way to get her back, otherwise he was just going to be an empty shell of the man he once was.

A knocked at his door, brought him out of his thoughts. He stood up, and told whoever it was to come in. He was surprised to see it was Zaeed, with a bag over his shoulder.  
"What's going on Zaeed?" he politely asked. Zaeed didn't have his usual evil look, it was more soft and kind. Which looked weird on Zaeed. He sighed.  
"I'm leaving Shepard," he bluntly huffed, "As much as I'd hate to, I have to. Got some personal business that I have to take care of on my own." Shepard was about to say something, but Zaeed held up a hand to stop him.  
"Look it's nothing life threatening," he growled, "Besides I kinda of miss working on my own. More of a challenge that way. Hehehe!" Shepard paused for a moment, despite how much they fought, he had become fond of the cranky old mercenary. But he knew arguing with him would be pointless. So he shrugged his shoulders and sighed.  
"Alright," he said, "Well it was great having you aboard Zaeed. Take care of yourself and good luck." He stuck his hand out, and was met by Zaeed's.  
"You too Shepard," he said, "And don't worry, I cleaned out my quarters. Just do me a favor, and make the newbie you replace me with sweat." He threw his head back laughing. While Shepard chuckled a bit confused.  
"What makes you think you'll be replaced?" Shepard asked. Zaeed just shrugged.  
"Simple. Two words," he answered, "The Normandy! Trust me, by the end of the repairs you'll have someone else in my quarters. Anyway later Shepard." Shepard shook his head chuckling as Zaeed left.

* * *

Tali, stepped off the Normandy, with Kenneth and Gaby behind her. All three of them want to give the drive core an upgrade, but they all had different ideas as how to do it. But they went together as a group for two reasons. One, Omega is crawling with blood thirsty, sick criminals. Two, Tali knew how to use a shotgun. They moved quickly, the shop that they wanted to go to was on a different level of Omega, so they grabbed a skycar. All three were excited to get their hands on new tech. Little did they know that their lives would be a little different at the end of the day.

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**Derricks Apartment**

He smiled as he slipped on the last gauntlet, the armor felt so light yet strong at the same time. Derricks took a moment to admire the how the armor looked in his mirror. Especially now that he had given it the paint job. His armor was now jet black, with blue stripes down the arms and across the shoulders. On the chest plate were three white claw marks, he was very proud of this symbol. The story behind it was that in the mercenary community he had made a name for himself, the Talon, he didn't know how he got the name, but he liked it. The symbol came from his first merc armor, after his first contract he had received three bullet scratches on his chest plate, and he never fixed Ito, so people came to think it was his symbol. Which he was more than okay with.  
A beep from his terminal and omni-tool awoke him from his nostalgic daydreaming. "You have a new message," the terminal's VI told him. He rolled his eyes, and checked the message.  
"Mr. Davids you told me to contact you if Bamarrk showed up at my shop. He's on his way to demand protection money. Please help me.-  
Talnork."

Derrick furrowed his brows, Talnork was an honest Batarian who owned a good ship part shop. While Bamarrk was a heartless, four-eyed bastard that gave his species a bad name. Bamarrk was also a member of the Blue Suns, and shook people down for protection money. Derricks had helped Talnork with him once. It was when he was hired by a company that wanted him to fix up one of their downed ships and get it air born. So Derrick had decided to stop by Talnork's shop. However, he went on a day that Bamarrk made his collections, how unfortunate...for Bamarrk! When he tried to shake Talnork down, Derrick stepped in, and kicked his ass telling him to find somewhere else to collect protection money. Bamarrk got away, but Derricks knew that this wouldn't be the last Talnork would hear of him. So Derricks told Talnork to contact him if Bamarrk ever gave him trouble.

It looked like Bamarrk didn't understand his last warning. Derrick only warns people once, this time he would kill Bamarrk. He grab his Mantvus Sniper rifle, and his two pistols. He did a quick check on his rifle, making sure everything was working fine. To his relief, there was nothing wrong with his rifle. He was about to leave when he noticed something left in the crate. Whatever it was shined in the dim light. Reaching inside he felt a handle, and grasped it then pulled it out. Revealing a beautiful Katana sword, made out of some kind of unearthly metal. He also found a sword seethe, he smiled and seethed the sword and placed it next to his sniper. He then left for Talnork's shop.

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**Ten Minutes Earlier**

Tali, Gaby, and Kenneth had made it the shop. Talnork Parts, was it's name. They went inside, Tali saw that a Batarian was working the desk, she half expected him to demand that they leave. But he gave them a smile and spread his arms in a welcoming gesture, as if they were old friends.

"Welcome to Talnork Parts," he kindly greeted them, "Take a look around if you need some help finding something don't hesitate to ask." All three of them were thrown off by how this Batarian was being. Sure Tali had met some Batarians that were kind, but even they were never this kind.

"Uh thanks," Tali replied, "Um where do you keep the drive core parts?" She rubbed her hands together, something she usually did when she was nervous. Ken and Gaby also looked a little nervous.

"There in the back," he kindly answered, "Just past the cooling components," he paused and studied them, "May I ask why you three look so nervous?" he asked in such a polite manner that Tali was having trouble believing that he was a Batarian.

"Well...it's just that. Well," Ken fumbled with his words, "You know, we're kind of surprised by how nice your being to us. Most of your kin, usually want to skin mine alive." Gaby elbowed him in the ribs, with a nervous chuckle.

"Ah," the Batarian responded, "Now I see. Yes well, I understand your surprise, most people are. I don't blame you though, I wasn't always this kind. But after a human saved me from a tyrant, I have found it easier to see the good in humanity." That eased the tension, and they thanked Talnork for his time, and went to look for the parts they needed.

Talnork was about to go give them a hand when something caught his eyes. It was a large amount of blue, the Blue Suns, about six of them being led by Bamarrk. Even from a long distance, Talnork recognized the monster. He panicked, and typed a message into his terminal. Once he finished the message he sent it, and tried to find his customers and tell them they needed to leave. But before he could escape from behind the desk, a deep angry voice called out his name.

"TALNORK!" He froze, he already knew that it was Bamarrk, but that didn't stop the fear from gripping control on his body. Even with Bamarrk too far to enter the shop, he couldn't find the courage to move his lead feet. He saw that Tali had come to see what was going on, he lipped the words hide to her, and she saw the Blue Sons making their way, and nodded in understanding, and retuned to the back of the shop.

"Damn it!" Tali thought angrily, "Nothing can ever be simple can it?" She wanted to help Talnork, but she was seriously outnumbered, and only had her shotgun with her. She needed backup. She motioned for Gaby and Ken to stay down and out of sight. She started to typed up a message.

* * *

Derricks was speeding towards Talnork's shop, he was being driven with purpose, and it felt good. Something about having people relay on you, even little things, made him feel. Right now he was determined to make sure that Talnork's trust was well placed. He swerved out of the way of an coming skycar and gunned it.

* * *

"So Talnork," Bamarrk crackled evilly, "How do you want to do this? Easy way, or the fun way?" He grinned evilly flashing his digesting teeth. His ego was matching his smile, and only grew when he saw that Talnork gulped and started darting his eyes around nervously. To him this was like delicious meal, he wanted to savor every moment. He nodded to one of his men, who returned one and activated a strange looking device.

"What are you doing," Talnork asked nervously, "W-What is that, that thing?" All four of his eyes were screaming with terror. Bamarrk drank in the fear he could feel rolling of him, enjoying second of it. He laughed as he looked at the device.

"What that old thing," he joked, "That our communications jammer. But you don't need to worry about that. What you need to worry about is paying your fee!" he slammed his hand on the table. Causing Talnork to jump back startled, just the reaction that Bamarrk wanted from him. Bamarrk thought this was going to be fun.

Tali watched in horror, hearing everything the other Batarian had said. And realized that she would not be able to signal for help anytime soon. "Damn it!" she angrily thought to herself.

* * *

Derricks finally made it to the level Talnork's shop was on. He landed on a large pipe that had a good view of the shops entrance. He setup a small perch for himself, and took a look through his scope. He curse under his breath. He counted at least six Blue Sons troops and Bamarrk. He also recognized that they had a comm jammer with them. He could see that Talnork was scared. So to give him a little confidence, he flashed a reflection of light quickly off his scope, and prayed that Talnork saw it.

* * *

"Now pay up Talnork," shouted Bamarrk, "That human can't help you now!" Tali heard him, and watched Talnork, suddenly something made his eyes wide, he then tried to put on a brave face.

"I don't take orders from thugs like you!" He yelled back. The room fell silent, nobody expected that from Talnork, not even himself. "Y-you w-want shoot me? Go ahead I've had a good life! And I refuse to live in fear of you!" Tali thought he was crazy, brave, but crazy! Having no idea what gave him the sudden spark of courage, she completely failed to noticed that a thermal cooling unit was about to fall off it's shelve. Sadly she noticed it too late, as it struck the floor with a loud clank. Her heart dropped to her stomach.

"Wha?" stated one of the mercs, "Hey I got something over here!" He followed the source of the noise, just as he turned the corner, he caught sight of Tali. Before he could even utter a sound, Tali shot the merc at close range, a loud murderous boom filled the still air. The merc thrown backwards as the bullets ripped through his armor, blood and guts to through the air, and shower the space behind him. Hoping they could make it without more conflict, Tali, Gaby, and Kenneth made a mad dash for the exit. But all three were tackled by the Suns. Then brought to their feet, but restrained, and taken before Bamarrk. Who now grinned even wider than a Batarian should be able to.

"Now than," he said while pointing a gun at Kenneth, "You were saying Talnork?" Talnork just stood there in shock. He would have no choice but to give into Bamarrk's demands.

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**Okay WOW! this is a really long chapter and it's only the first! hahaha sorry about that guys, but I typed this up on my iPod and got really into it. There was originally more, but I decided against leaving it in this chapter. If you like the story, pleas do something, like follow or favorite it, or better yet, leave me a review. Your opinions do help me shape the story, especially this one, depending on how you guys, Derricks will either be romancing with either Tali, Jack, or Miranda. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Can't wait till next time.**


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